The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1

Director: Bill Condon

Writers: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Sarah Clarke, Ty Olsson, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli, Kellan Lutz, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Christian Sloan, James Pizzinato

Synopsis: The Quileute and the Volturi close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses different threats to the wolf pack and vampire coven.

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, sexuality/partial nudity and some thematic elements

Yep, as the title of this review suggests, Edward and Bella finally have sex. In fact, it's such a big deal that they conveniently showed them having sex in the freaking trailer. Gee, who ever would've thought that so many people would be anticipating the day that Edward finally sleeps with Bella... Whether you love or hate the "Twilight" movie series, the one thing that's indisputable is that it's arguably one of the most successful entertainment franchises ever conceived. After all, what other franchise has successfully marketed a long drawn out love triangle like this? Seriously, it's enough to where you almost have to applaud Stephanie Meyer, for creating this series. Unfortunately, as much hype as the movies generate, they never live up to their full potential.

Sure, I'll be the first to admit that the "Twilight" series as a whole has a lot promise if you look at the premise of the series alone. For one, you have a generic teenage girl that starts off in high school. She's very naive about relationships in general, and she resembles a lot of the same generic traits that most teenage/preteen girls can relate to. She's emotionally insecure, shy, naive, sometimes a bit selfish, and indecisive about what she really wants in a relationship. These are common traits that most preteen/teenage girls can relate to heavily, as what teenage/preteen girl really knows what she wants in a relationship at such a tender age?

Plus, the setting for having a main character so young is perfect for creating loads of possibilities, in terms of developing a complex story. Take William Shakespeare's classic, "Romeo & Juliet", for instance. What some people don't know is that the original story of "Romeo & Juliet" was not Shakespeare's original creation. No, it was originally called "The Tragical History of Romeus & Juliet", as it was originally told by Arthur Brooke. Then, the story was later retold by William Painter in a prose called "Palace of Pleasure." What does this have to with the new "Twilight" movie? Well, I'm about to get to that momentarily, so you'll have to bear with me. And, by the way, I'm not comparing this movie to "Romeo and Juliet" by any means, but rather using it as an example to prove a point.

Anyway, as history tells us, William Shakespeare rewrote the original story for dramatic effect; one of the changes being were the ages of Romeo and Juliet themselves. You see, Shakespeare changed the ages of the characters from young adults to teenagers in his version, and made the story take place within a shorter time span of a few days versus months, like in the original stories. Why did he do this? Well, from what I've researched into this, Shakespeare wanted the audience to question whether or not Romeo and Juliet were ever truly in love. By making the characters so young, and having it take place within a short time frame, it worked rather brilliantly. Not only does it make the audience question how sincere their love is, but it also makes us wonder how naive these young lovers are. How it makes us wonder if they truly knew what they're getting into, or if they were acting irrationally from their hormonal tendencies. It not only worked to create one of the greatest love stories ever told, but it would go on to become the gold standard for dramatic love stories for centuries to come.

As for what this has to do with the new "Twilight" movie, the premise of using a character so young could've worked to create so many possibilities into it's favor. Not only could this series have delved more deeply into the idea of whether or not Bella (Kristen Stewart) truly loved Edward (Robert Pattinson), but it could have also explored the concept of how teenage girls are often confused about they really want in a relationship thoroughly. Sure, you can see hints of that throughout the movies, but it plays out like an over drawn pretentious soap opera; where instead of delivering an emotionally powerful love story that could've been a new epic for this generation, we're instead treated to a movie that offers very little in terms of substance, and it tends to recycle the same plot devices repeatedly to draw out the love story unnecessarily.

As for Edward and Jacob (Taylor Lautner), they could have worked too if they had been planned out correctly. With Edward, you have an emotionally distant vampire who shows subtle hints of hating his very existence, as the audience can certainly sense his yearning to have back his humanity; which is one of the reasons why he's never tried to turn Bella into a vampire at this point. As for Jacob, he's essentially the best friend to Bella that loves her unconditionally, but the love that he feels for her is always unrequited.

Again, if you look at all these premises alone, then you can almost sense that a great epic love story could've been generated with these movies. Unfortunately, it never happens. That in itself is the biggest problem that bothers me with these "Twilight" films. Sure, it doesn't help that all the movies feature the same tired out cliche story arcs, and bland performances, but the movies could've been so much more if they had lived up to their potential. And, this latest movie certainly doesn't do much to change my mind either. Sure, "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1" had some interesting ideas, but it's really nothing more than a over dramatize bore that will only appeal to the many "Twihards" of this franchise.

As most "Twilight" fans know, Edward proposed to Bella in the last movie, and it ended on that note to leave audiences guessing. Well, for those wanting to know what her answer was to Edward's proposal, then you can probably tell by the trailer that she OBVIOUSLY said "yes." In fact, that's where the movie starts off, as it immediately shows Bella getting ready for her big wedding day. No build up, nor does the movie heavily explore the pre-wedding jitters that Bella has. Sure, there's a few nightmares she has about becoming a vampire once Bella and Edward marry, but it never gets fully fleshed out as one would expect.

If there was ever a moment to explore Bella's character more, then this would've been a great opportunity. Not only could the film have explored many issues associated with getting married at such a young age, but it could've been used to explore Bella's internal conflict of never seeing her old family or friends again in the foreseeable future, as it's fairly obvious that once she becomes a vampire that a time will come when she may have to fake her own death to eliminate suspicion. After all, it'll be kind of hard to explain to her father why she still looks like she's eighteen, after she's turned..FIFTY..several years from now. Unfortunately, the film rarely ever touches upon these issues; outside a few nightmares, but it's hardly ever explored in this movie. Again, this is just another example of why this series fails to ever live up to it's potential, but I digress.

As I mentioned earlier, the movie starts off with the overly drawn out wedding sequence. Everyone is happy as expected with the exception of Jacob, who tears off his shirt and runs out into the woods in a fit of rage, after finding out about the wedding. Don't worry, he only takes off his shirt in one scene. Thank god, but I have to say I'm starting to think Jacob REALLY needs to get over Bella by this point. After all, if she's still unwilling to dump Edward to be with him by this point, then I think it's safe to say it's never going to happen. Sure, I'll admit I do feel sorry for the guy in most of these movies, but at this point, it just becomes pathetically laughable. Anyway, after thirty minutes of showing Bella and Edward getting married, they both go to South America for their honeymoon.

And like all newlyweds, they have sex. Yes, this is the moment that all "Twilight" fans have been waiting for. The day that Bella finally loses her virginity to Edward is here, as I can almost hear all the little "Twihards" out there giggling to themselves about this. Almost imagining all the little "Team Edward" fans clamoring how much they envy Bella at this very moment. Indeed, this is the moment that all "Twihards" have been clamoring for, and I have to say they really go at it a lot in this movie. Seriously, if any of you married men out there thought you went at it hard on your honeymoon, then you'll be almost laughing at how much Bella and Edward go at it on theirs. In fact, Edward not only deflowers Bella in this movie, but he literally breaks the bed and the freaking wall while doing it with her. And even more surprisingly, she's not even in pain while losing her virginity either. In fact, she loves every minute of it. Sure, Edward has sex with her so hard that she ends up with bruises all over various parts of her body, and they end up having to replace every bed they have sex on, but she loves every minute of it. Gee, I guess Bella must get turned on by pain. Who knew?

Of course, Edward worries that he might be hurting her way too much whenever they have sex, so he claims that they'll never do it again. Hmm..I guess it's true what most comedians say about how most couples stop having sex once they're married. From here, we see various scenes where Bella and Edward are playing chess together. However, the whole "no sex" thing that Edward tries to establish doesn't last long, as Bella works her charms to get him back into the sack. Once that happens, Bella and Edward have even more sex in this movie, where even more beds get broken, and walls crumble as the bed slams into it.

Although, I've never read the books to this series, but I tend to wonder if the writers knew ANYTHING about sex when they wrote the script. Seriously, I don't know what Stephanie Meyer's ideas about sex are, but if a guy is doing a girl that freakishly hard where every bed and wall is breaking whenever they have sex, then chances are, they're hurting the girl; especially if it's her first time. And to make matters worse, this whole promiscuous sex that Bella and Edward have in this movie lasts about thirty minutes too. Therefore, if you count the wedding scene and the sex scenes, you pretty much get a general idea of how overly drawn out the first part of this movie tends to get.

However, as luck would have it, Bella finds out that she's pregnant with Edward's child. Of course, with Edward being the schmuck that he is, he can't believe it. Gee, whoever would've thought having that much promiscuous unprotected sex could lead to a girl getting pregnant? I mean, it's not like any of us were taught that if you have unprotected sex, then it could lead to pregnancy. What are the odds of that happening? By the way, I'm being sarcastic for those that can't tell.

Anyway, Edward sees the baby as an abomination of nature, and promises Bella that he'll find a way to get rid of that thing inside her. Yep, "Twilight" touches upon the moralities of abortion folks. Whether you agree or disagree with abortion, it doesn't matter, as "Twilight" plans to educate little preteen and teenage girls about the moralities of abortion anyway...yay?

Although, I'm sure most "Twilight" fans won't notice this, but I have to say that I felt a bit uncomfortable watching this movie deal with such a touchy subject matter. Granted, I know everyone has their own opinion on this issue, but some of the things that Jacob and Edward say about the baby tends to make you think they're a**holes. Like when Edward finds out that Bella is pregnant, he not only places all the blame on her for getting pregnant in the first place, but he adamantly says that he's going to get that THING out of her, and sometimes refers to it as a monster. To make matters worse, he doesn't even bother asking Bella once during this rant about what she wants to do about this baby. And yet, this is the guy that most young "Twihards" fantasize about? What an a**hole if you ask me.

As for Jacob, he's no saint when it comes to this touchy issue either. If anything, he too refers to the unborn child as A THING, and even goes as far as to say, "Get that damn thing away from me", when Edward merely asks him to hold the baby after it's born, so he could save Bella's life, but I'll explain that in a minute. Gee, it's funny on how two of "Twilight's" biggest heart throbs can be such selfish a**holes, when childbirth and abortion are involved. Wow.

Anyway, without giving away too much, Bella decides to keep the baby, but it comes at a price. Seeing as how the baby is half vampire and human, it starts to crave blood; which in turn causes it to eat through her uterus. To make matters worse, the werewolf pack that Jacob belongs to somehow sees this as an act of war by the vampires, so they launch a full scale attack on the Cullen family. Loyalties are strained, and boundaries are broken in this epic chapter.

Unfortunately, this movie is nothing more than a tease of what's to come. Not only does the story possess too many plot holes, but it doesn't even seem like it's a finished film at all. If anything, you feel like they over extended the first half of the movie to make it longer, and the ending comes off as rushed. Nothing gets resolved at the end, as this movie's real purpose is to set up the next film, and nothing more. Granted, I know people can say the same thing about "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1", but there's a big difference between the two. In "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the story was so big that if they tried to cram all the story elements into one movie, then it would've came off as rushed, and it would've forced the film makers to take out a lot of scenes from both parts, due to time constraints; hence making the epic climax between Voldermort and Harry Potter far less interesting.

Whereas "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn- Part 1", it barely has enough story content to support one freaking movie, as the beginning of the film is ridiculously drawn out, and the ending is rushed. Not only does the audience see very little character progression from most of it's main characters, but it's almost laughable how seriously it tries to take itself when it touches upon various controversial issues.

However, to be fair, I thought Bella's character finally did show some signs of maturity in this movie. For those that might remember my previous reviews of the other "Twilight" films, one of my biggest problems was that Bella always came off as a selfish under developed character, but this movie actually made me gain a lot more respect for her. As for the special effects, I have to say they're a lot better than I've seen in the previous films, as it's definitely a step up from the lousy CGI inconsistencies of "Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

Overall, I thought the movie was decent for what it was trying to be. Although, some "Twilight" fans might be a bit disturbed by some of the film's touchy subject matter concerning abortions, and it's bloody portrayal of childbirth. However, for the most part, this film should still appeal to "Twilight" fans, as it still features many of the same drama that made the previous films such a cult classic. But for those that never liked this franchise to begin with, then I would definitely avoid this movie like the plague. In the end, I'd probably have to give this movie a two out of four. It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of this franchise, as it definitely introduces a lot of interesting elements for fans to enjoy. But, as I said before, it could've been so much more...